Pakistan and Iran need to have the highest level of bilateral trade if both the nations want to face the fast emerging global challenges. It is high time that the Pakistani business community should join hands with their Iranian counterparts, as this would help both the countries get a respectable place in the highly competitive global market.
This was the consensus developed at a meeting on Saturday between a three-member Iranian delegation comprising Mohsin Pakparwar, Karimi, Ramazan and LCCI president Shahid Hassan Sheikh, senior vice-president Yaqoob Tahir Izhar and vice-president Mubasher Sheikh.
Mohsin Pakparwar, who is the economic head of the Iranian embassy in Islamabad, said any serious and sector-specific efforts had yet to be made for a concrete start and engagement of private sectors from both the sides, which was of vital importance.
He said lack of information was also coming in the way of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Iran and this goal could be achieved with frequent exchange of trade delegation and holding of joint trade exhibitions.
"Iran is quite strong in petrochemical sector but unfortunately Pakistani businessmen could not reap the opportunity of this strength," he added.
He singled out a number of other sectors where both the countries could initiate joint ventures and get benefit from each other's experience and strengths. He urged the LCCI president to arrange a trade delegation to Iran, therefore, Pakistani businessmen could have an assessment of business opportunities persisting in Iran.
Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI president said the overall scenario demands that there is a need to raise the level of trade between the two countries to one billion dollars. He said at the moment the trade between the two countries is confined to a limited number of products. "Pakistan's exports to Iran mainly comprise rice, wheat, cotton, leather products, textile yarn, etc, and imports from Iran consist of petroleum and petroleum products, spices, tea, pistachio nuts, woolen carpets, fruits and vegetables etc.
"Major bottlenecks in the promotion of trade between the two countries are lack of timely information about trade and business opportunities in each other's country.
The issue could be taken care of through the active engagements of chambers of the two countries, which could act as resource base for information on trade and investment opportunities," he added.
LCCI senior vice-president Yaqoob Tahir Izhar said the world is fast reorganising itself into regional economic blocs such as Nafta, Asean, EU, etc, which are gaining strength day by day, while the regional integration of ECO is still regarded as an unsuccessful grouping. "An overview of the trade within the ECO countries would reveal a very dismal state of affairs," he added.
He said it is heartening to note that after signing of a memorandum of understanding for export of 20,000 tons of citrus fruit during a visit of Pakistan Horticulture Development Board to Iran, Pakistani exporters are now processing and grading citrus fruit for export to Iran after a gap of 25 years. LCCI former presidents Mohsin Raza Bukhari and Mian Misbahur Rehman were also present on the occasion.
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